Case study of ebay and hktvmall analysis and comparison of advertisements

Advertising can also be used to promote an idea. Advertisements are usually sponsored by businesses or organisations wishing to reach out to various audiences. Advertisement can be done through the print media, broadcast media, face-to-face engagements, and the internet. The internet has come along with various platforms including social media, electronic mail, and websites among others. The internet is increasingly becoming the main advertisement tool following technology advancements realised within the past 20 years. eBay is an American e-commerce firm with its headquarters in San Jose, California. Categorically, the firm provides business-to-consumer and consumer-to-consumer sales platform. Similarly, HKTVMall is an e-commerce platform provided by HKTV; a company based in Hong Kong that provides over-the-top shopping and entertainment forum. These adverts will provide both quantitative and qualitative data.

This data is useful for analysis and comparison purposes. This study focuses on hyperbole, a figurative technique that uses exaggeration to create an effect. (4) Data and Findings The following 10 images are advertisements drawn from eBay and HKTVMall. The advertisements from both websites are classified in terms of manufacturers and items being advertised. • Advertisements from eBay Figure 1: Advertisement for Clothes Produced by Kathmandu Figure 2: Advertisement on Laptops Produced by Lenovo Figure 3: Advertisement of Beauty Products Produced by L’Oréal Paris Figure 4: Advertisement Placed for General Technology Gadgets Figure 5: Advertisement for Products Made by BIG W • Advertisements from HKTVMall Figure 6: Advertisement for Spring Dampness Expelling Products Figure 7: Advertisement for Food Products Figure 8: Advertisement for Milk Products Figure 9: Advertisement for General Products Figure 10: Advertisement for Citi Credit Card (5) Results and Analysis • Representational Meaning Participant Analysis The participants analysed herein are the main elements emphasized throughout the advertisements.

Persons in ads enquire about the identity; what the identity of the audience is. Just like HKTVMall, eBay has more products representation than other categories of participants. HKTVMall and eBay have 80% and 77% products representation respectively. The two shopping sites understand the need to have the main participants as vibrant as possible in the advertisements. Customers would pay more attention to the dominant participants unlike the other dormant participants. Regardless, human participants have a unique role to play in the advertisements and thus they cannot be left out. Real images are more common in both eBay and HKTVMall. Interactive meaning: gaze/camera angle/distance The images used in the advertisements are really engaging in terms of camera angles, distance, and gaze. Mostly, images used in the adverts are shot in close ups to reveal more details about the product.

eBay: HKTVmall: (Positive) Appreciation: valuation - price and quality (promotion/discount) Promotions and discounts witnessed in both cases are crucial to consumers who have to appreciate products and services from the two shopping websites. Discounts indicate that the seller values their customers by offering the best deal possible. The rule of thirds has been used accordingly in composition of the advertisements. In both cases, important information is placed at the intersections of the imaginary grid as shown by the following image. This ensures that the information is centred in the allocate space as show by the following image. Left-right composition Despite the fact that the two websites have employed the top-bottom composition quite significantly, there are some elements of left-right composition which is important in handling given and new information.

Given and new information are of great importance for the advertisers and would want to ensure they are coherently presented. Discounts indicate that the seller values their customers by offering the best deal possible. As customer form their feelings around this fact, they could easily appreciate the seller by buying the products and services. Promotions are just as many as possible in eBay and customers who are familiar with the websites would want to buy through it because there are always some kinds of promotions. The trend in both cases indicates that different regions of the world may have varied preferences when it comes to advertising patterns. (7) Conclusion This study concludes that varied advertisement techniques are important to affect the market in a desired manner.